Broadcaster pays visit to Tigers, fans

HARWELL'S RETURN

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, September 17, 2009

Ernie Harwell, the famed Detroit Tigers broadcaster, described his rare visit to Comerica Park for Wednesday night's game as a chance to say hello to the team and its fans.

But they knew, just as he did, that it could very well have been Harwell's goodbye to the city where his booming Southern drawl was the voice of summer for 42 years.

Earlier this month, the 91-year-old Harwell revealed that he has an inoperable and incurable form of bile duct cancer.

"He was the background noise of our lives growing up," said Tigers fan Ron Del Villano, who attended the game specifically to see Harwell's appearance.

Harwell spoke to the crowd during the third inning Wednesday, after fans watched a video tribute to him on the scoreboard. The Tigers asked their opponent, the Kansas City Royals, for extra time in the game to accommodate Harwell, although he began by saying he would be brief because "we don't want to be penalized now for delay of the game."

He stood at a microphone behind home plate and waved to the fans before thanking them for their "devotion, support, loyalty and love."

"In my almost 92 years on this earth, the good Lord has blessed me with a great journey - and the blessed part of that journey is that it will end in the great state of Michigan," Harwell said.

"I deeply appreciate the people of Michigan. I love their grit, I love the way they face life, I love the family values. And you Tiger fans are the greatest fans of all. No question about that."

Before the game, Harwell met with the Tigers players and greeted members of the media in the press box that bears his name.

He was generally in good spirits, and he laughed while describing himself as a "failed newspaperman" who stumbled into a fallback career in radio.